• Already one of the most densely populated countries in the world, incomes are low and the majority of people still need to work. Working from home isn’t an option for most and social distancing is almost impossible.

• The healthcare system is under developed and out of the reach of many. Testing levels and treatment capacities are very low.

• The country also has an estimated 1 million stateless Rohingya housed in sprawling camps in the southeastern region of the country. These camps are cramped so create conditions prime for rapid spread.

• Bangladesh’s overall socio-economic situations have been heavily impacted by the recent COVID-19 pandemic. According to WHO data, the country counted 2,109 infections per 1 million inhabitants in September 2020, while the number of unreported cases is likely to be much higher.

• The impact of COVID-19 is much more profound in the poor and rural areas.

• As of 27 July 2021, according to the Bangladesh Directorate General of Health Services, there have been 1,178,127 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Bangladesh, including 19,521 related deaths.

• The Bangladesh government has extended its current pandemic restrictions to August 5 midnight, to break the chain of transmission amid the delta variant that is currently wreaking havoc in the country.

• Due to this ongoing threat to staff and community partner health, United Purpose is continuing its extreme caution during operations requiring masks, social distancing, handwashing, and remote interactions where possible to ensure the safe continuity of programme services during this challenging time.

• In addition to ensuring that infectious disease prevention is a core element of our Safeguarding approach, United Purpose is also working with its community partners to leverage existing capacity for COVID-19 prevention in rural communities across the country. With funding from organisations, United Purpose has disseminated contextually tailored COVID-19 awareness and prevention materials across all its project sites and introduced a new, enterprise-based approach to mHealth in select women’s business centres.

• Through awareness building campaigns, rural communities have been able to improve their capacity to tackle the adverse effect of the COVID-19 pandemic.

• With the training of mask production, WBC entrepreneurs started making and selling masks thus contributing to their family income.

• The Coronay Koronio app helped WBC entrepreneurs screen COVID-19 symptoms of community members and then refer them to local health clinics. Through this app, community members were also provided with preventive measures to tackle COVID-19

• By using the ClickHealth telemedicine app, WBC entrepreneurs supported non-consultation services like height-weight measurements, blood pressure checks, body temperature, and diagnosis of anemia, edema, cyanosis, and jaundice. By providing this non-consultation service, they are generating income for their family.

• WBC entrepreneurs are now more ICT friendly, with apps such ClickHealth telemedicine, they are now more advanced with ICT based activities which increased their technical competencies.

• Thanks to the quick preparations of United Purpose staff at the beginning of 2020, United Purpose was one of the first INGOs in Bangladesh to release a COVID-19 safety guidelines document and map out its response to the pandemic and anticipated lockdowns.

• Thanks to this preparation, UP was able to transition seamlessly to remote operations in March of 2020 as portions of the country went into lockdown. Apart from scheduled group activities in the field, programming continued throughout this period and UP is proud that it remains on schedule for all its active projects during this time period while also ensuring the safety of its staff and community partners.

• UP has provided life-saving financial assistance to several thousand host-community households in Cox’s Bazar, continued to expand its livelihood-driven nutrition programming in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, created community-managed cold chain systems for safely delivering artisanally harvested Mola fish to those unable to access key protein sources at markets, achieved its target to positively impact the lives of 100,000 women entrepreneurs as part of the Coca-Cola 5by20 campaign, and continued to ensure vital health services for Rohingya communities living in camps.

Meet UP’s Dr Shafayat. In this short video, he shares how his team are trying to “flatten the curve” through taking preventative measures in the Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh: